see, she knows, she knows now. jon: yep. very crowd aware. jenna: so sweet. we're going to see them, the first family. four years a long time, but time also flies. jon: good for them. thank you for joining us today. jenna: pie move starts -- "america live" starts right now. megyn: fox news alert on a new era in america. we are awaiting the president's arrival back at the white house as we hear a new pledge from mr. obama to forge the bipartisan compromise that eluded him in his first four years. welcome to "america live," it's the day after, and i'm megyn kelly. as the dust settles from campaign 2012, the balance of power in washington looks -- the same. [laughter] the white house and the senate will still be in democratic hands come january, the house still firmly controlled by the republicans. on the heels of a hard-fought contest, president obama appeared ready to reach across the aisle. at one point sending out a message that read, we're all in

this together. that's how we campaigned, and that's who we are. thank you. and last night in his victory speech, a similar tone. >> i believe we can seize this future together! [cheers and applause] because we are not as divided as our politics suggest. we're not as cynical as the pundits believe. we are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions, and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states. we are and forever will be the united states of america! [cheers and applause] and together, with your help and god's grace, we will continue our journey forward. [cheers and applause] and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest nation on earth. thank you, america! god bless you! [cheers and applause] god bless these united states! [cheers and applause] megyn: chris stirewalt is our fox news digital politics editor

and host of "power play" on foxnews.com live. so we actually have results, it's been a long time, and now we know what happened. the president, obviously, has won re-election and is promising to forge compromise, going to sit down with mitt romney, he says. he used that word, compromise, and yet, you know, the headlines today on drudge, it's divided states of america. even the mainstream media, abc news, had a headline that read obama vows to forge change where he failed. and, you know, there's not much of a question about the fact that there wasn't a lot of bipartisanship in washington over the president's first term. you can blame whoever you want, but the president would be at least half of the equation. so where do we go from here? >> well, think of this. it's rather remarkable, isn't it? the people who hate washington and constantly complain about the way politics operates in this country voted to extend the status quo politically -- megyn: almost exactly! >> and more of the same. the senate is more democrat, the

house is more republican, and the president is still a democrat, so it's like, well, i guess maybe you, maybe they're kind of masochistic, i'm not sure. megyn: right. >> but the truth is, the president gets a chance to put his money where his mouth is today. it starts right now, because the fiscal cliff is out there, the tax rates, the automatic reductions to defense spending, all of those things are all there. and he's got to get to work on it right away. megyn: just so our viewers know, those will happen unless there's some sort of intervention, and they've tried to stop it from happening before, and unsuccessful, they were unsuccessful in their efforts to make a deal. so now they have to do it before the end of the year if they're going to do it at all. everybody says it's going to be very bad for the economy if they don't, and you say, what, now somebody's got to bend? >> here's what makes it even more deliciously complicated, and that's this: the assumption was that the composition of washington would be different after the election, there'd either be a new president, or the republicans would take the

house or the senate, didn't happen. we've got the same makeup, and now john boehner and barack obama are going to sit across from each other again and try to do something. he used the term there grace, and what is called for -- and peggy noonan calls for patriotic grace. the president didn't do that with his first victory, he took a mandate and used the first part of his term to really jam through some big stuff, especially his health law. megyn: look, elections have consequences, i won. the election's over, i won. >> this time the question is after this narrow win and with the republicans holding serve in the house, will the president summon that grace, and when he gets back to washington say, okay, i'm going to be magnanimous in my victory? megyn: everyone's saying this has to be solved. we can't let this happen. this is bad for the country if we let this happen. so they have to do something. but they have not -- they've been intransigent, both sides. so what incentive do these

republicans who have just towed the party line, refused to, you know, break on taxes, tax hikes, what incentive do they -- now having been told, we like that, and we are going to reelect that because we like that -- and they've gotten sent back to washington, and the president, the same true on holding the line on spending cuts receiving the same message from voters? how do those two parties reach agreement now? >> that's right. and the president also ran on tax rates going up. he explicitly said the whole time he wants tax rates to go up for top earners, he was very clear about that. so now they collide again. so what incentive does the president have having been reelected to do this? i think the simplest answer is this: the catastrophe that awaits the country on all of these issues, not just the fiscal cliff, but all these issues is giant. so i suspect what you're going to see is one more can kick. they're going to say, okay, we're going to roll this to june or july and then really -- megyn: what good does that do? that only puts them closer to

their next midterm election. >> well, that's true, but there's no way they can get a long-term deal done in the short number of days left. remember, they kicked the can to the election and said we're not even going to deal with it because we don't know what the composition's going to be. surprise, it's the same. megyn: it's unbelievable. i don't know if we would have predicted we'd be sitting here after all this and saying, it's the same. america has, america's unhappy, they disapprove of everyone. the same. >> the same. megyn: the congress with the 8% approval rating, the same. thank you. [laughter] all right, chris, thank you. >> you bet. megyn: well, in what may be -- oh, wow. that's a new animation, developing. in what may be one more piece of election fallout, investors appear to be spooked today with the dow falling more than 300 points in early trading. right now it is down about 270. still not so good. next hour we could look at what's driving this selloff, including the concerns we just

mentioned about whether congress can reach a deal to avoid the so-called cliff, reach a deal with the president. that's a series of automatic tax increases. they will happen unless there's some intervention. and spending cuts, including massive cuts to our defense spending. all of it will happen in weeks, and the economists say it would cause massive trouble for our economy, could send us into another recession, they say. house speaker john boehner is speaking with republican house members about this issue next hour in a big conference call, and we expect to hear more from that, about that from speaker boehner once his meeting wraps up. as that news breaks, we'll bring it to you. and when it came to losing, governor romney did something last night that hasn't gotten a lot of attention today. when president obama gave his victory speech, governor romney streamed that live on his official romney campaign web site. mr. romney's concession speech was also posted to the site during which he congratulated the president and said that he

would pray for him and successful leadership and offered his support. but, you know, that's a classy move, to stream the president's victory speech on your web site when you are the one who's been defeated. we're taking your thoughts on that on twitter. well, during the president's remarks last night, president obama said he would like to sit down with governor romney to discuss how the two parties can work together to solve the country's problems. is that something the governor is willing to do? senior national correspondent john roberts is live in the boston with more. john? >> reporter: good afternoon. great job, by the way, last night, really terrific. megyn: back at you. >> reporter: i talked with a romney adviser just a few minutes ago who told me the campaign wasn't aware of any kind of a formal invitation from the president at this point to come down to the white house and talk about issues, but this adviser suggested that if an invitation like that did come, that governor romney would probably most certainly take the president up on it for the sake of trying to bring the nation together after such a divisive

election. that was a big theme of his campaign in the closing days, reaching across the aisle to get things done, and it was the theme in his concession speech last night as he urged leaders who will carry the country forward from january on to work together to try to solve some of the big issues that are facing this country. the governor basically saying that's one of the reasons why he ran for president. here he is. >> i ran for office because i'm concerned about america. this election is over, but our principles endure. i believe that the principles upon which this nation was founded are the only sure guide to a resurgent economy and to a new greatness. >> reporter: meantime, romney's advisers are trying to figure out exactly how they lost last night. they were convinced going into election day that they had numbers in florida, virginia, ohio and colorado. they were talking with their get out the vote people on the ground in those states, they were saying, yeah, we're finding people who hadn't planned to go out and vote, and we're finding

lots of them. but there just weren't enough to combat the numbers the obama campaign had run up. what really probably killed and torpedoed romney's candidacy was this idea that the obama campaign portrayed him as a rich guy who didn't care about regular folks. even though the romney campaign tried to counter that by saying, well, he can help you even if he doesn't understand you, in the end, megyn, it just wasn't loud enough to breakthrough those negative perceptions. megyn: john roberts, thank you. one well known political analyst is issuing a warning to the gop, that governor romney's loss will require serious soul searching to find out what went wrong. laura ingraham's here next with her take on last night and the next election. the new storm threatening some already hard-hit victims of hurricane sandy, and we will debate a controversial claim from bill o'reilly that suggests the president won re-election because there are now a majority of americans who just want stuff

and know that this president will give it to them. stay with us. >> it's a changing country. the demographics are changing. it's not a traditional america anymore. and there are 50% of the voting public who want stuff. they want things. and who is going to give them things? president obama. he knows it, and he ran on it. i was in the ambulance and i was told to call my next of kin. at 33 years old, i was having a heart attack. now i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i didn't know this could happen so young. lk to your doctor. ve lately.i didn't know this could happen so young.

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♪ >> what if it doesn't work out? >> you mean, go back to my family and my home and my life? [laughter] that's great. it's wonderful to live in america. i'm putting myself on the line because i think i can help get america on track. i think america needs someone who's not spent their life in washington to lead the country. megyn: well, that was an interview i had with governor romney just last january.

eleven months of campaigning later, president obama has defeated the governor to win a second term. but look at the numbers. governor romney challenged the president all night long in the popular vote and ended up improving the republican performance over 2008 with every significant group of voters almost. so what should the republican party do next? laura ingraham is a syndicated radio host and a fox news contributor and was saying yesterday a romney loss means the gop better do some soul searching. put this in perspective. >> yep. megyn: what does it mean? >> the chart is interesting and, sure, romney peeled off a few points with some key constituency groups, but i think, megyn, it's time to end the happy talk for republicans. i mean, the president ran a terrific campaign. his group was stellar. they used every opportunity, exploited every issue, some would say exploited some crises, but nevertheless, they put together a coalition that felt mitt romney was not someone they could identify with. not that he was a terrible

person, they didn't really connect with him, and they didn't know in the end what he stood for. talked about things like 12 million new jobs and we're going to free up the energy sector, but it wasn't enough for people to sink their teeth into and leaving a lot of issues on the table as well. obamacare, that was a driving force for the 2010 republican victories across the board. got a glancing glow by the, team romney, and that was because of romneycare, and i think he felt vulnerable on that issue. he also felt vulnerable on the war on women issue. so with all these latinos and african-americans across the country who are actually quite traditional in their thinking about family and the life issue, they really weren't connected to romney on those issues because he kind of stayed away from them. in the end we were left with a businessman who had a bain experience that the left was able to caricature and a lot of big houses, and we saw that picture of him on the jet ski this summer which, you know, some of us criticized him for. but in the end, it wasn't a

connection. so peeling a few points off here and there, i mean, if republicans are going to put all their hopes in that, i think that's misplaced. megyn: a lot of folks are now saying, okay, the republicans, conservatives, they need to revamp. >> become moderate, yeah. megyn: that's right. because they didn't appeal to the latinos and that is the one group mitt romney did not fare very well with. >> terrible. megyn: and worse than john mccain, mccain got 31% of their support, romney got 27% of their support. saying they need to move to the middle on reproduction, immigration issues. >> we've heard this refrain before. we heard it with bob dole, with john mccain. and the fact of the matter is, megyn, in this primary contest that was fought so hard last fall, a lot of the republican wise men said that mitt romney was the only guy who could take on barack obama. he was the most moderate, maybe except for jon huntsman, he was the most moderate guy of the group. the most moderate guy won. and i think -- megyn: but the left is walking

away from that today saying -- >> oh, of course. megyn: saying if romney couldn't do it, there's no way that a santorum could have done it. >> that is preposterous. i don't know santorum -- it's hard to say, right? but i do know that we see successful conservative governors changing the landscape of how their states operate. we have scott walker in wisconsin who beat back multimillion dollar push by the unions to survive that recall. we have john kasich in ohio who's had his ups and downs, but that state is humming along really well. megyn: what about the social issues? >> they didn't come into play. megyn: they're zeroing in on. >> those social issues did not come into play except to the democrats' advantage. why? because they could define mitt romney as a part of the war on women because why? mitt romney never really made the affirmative case to women. when was mitt romney making the case to female small business owners? where was mitt romney talking about the fact that the faith-based community has done more to lift women up from poverty and dejection and

difficulty than any community i believe in the united states, including the mormon faith which has done more to help people in times of need. so i think he left that issue on the table. so it was easy for them to caricature mitt romney. oh, you want to take women's contraception. because in the end mitt romney wasn't comfortable talking about those issues. i'm not saying that should have been the centerpiece of mitt romney's campaign. no. but like chris christie who's a pro-life republican, like scott walker, ted cruz in texas or marco rubio in florida. he can be pro-life, optimistic, be smart and actually be a proud conservative. and by the way, people start looking at you and say, gosh, that person is going into latino neighborhoods and talking to african-americans, and they might not agree with him on everything, but they respect you when you actually take the time to talk to them, listen to their concerns. i don't think as good of a man -- i believe he's a good man, mitt romney, a wonderful person -- i don't believe he is a very, very comfortable

politician. megyn: so in the end there's been some debate about whether this was, whether mitt romney could have won this race with a different campaign team or whether he was never going to win this race because of his past positions and who he is. >> well, i think after that first debate we saw that mitt romney had it in him somewhere. i mean, he was positive and happy, but he was tough. and he called barack obama out on the failures of his policies. and that was very appealing. i talked to a lot of women after that first debate, and they're like, wow, where was that guy? megyn: he narrowed the gender gap. >> you were reporting, because i was watching you, it disappeared for about ten days, but then that guy didn't show up at debate two or three. in fact, in debate three we heard mitt romney agreeing with barack obama on a number of foreign policy positions. i think at the end people were kind of like, okay, i'm going to go with the guy who seems a little more fun and looks more like the future of the country, and they went with barack obama. but the idea we have to become more moderate to win national

elections, that's a pig in a poke. megyn: any future rising stars in your view? >> yeah. i think scott walker is an amazing governor, we'll see if he has national appeal. marco rubio, no doubt about it. paul ryan, you're going to see him try to work his magic on the budget. ted cruz in texas, and i think susana martinez of new mexico. she's a gritty former prosecutor, a no-nonsense person and a woman who, i think, appeals to a broad range of people. megyn: she made quite a splash at the republican national convention. >> i like her. 2016 begins. [laughter] megyn: good to see you. >> purple. we're all working together now. [laughter] good to see you, thanks so much. megyn: all right, see ya. well, up next see this rain behind me? it gets much worse before it gets better. when we come back, what all this means for the hundreds of thousands who are still without power and those struggling to rebuild their homes in an area that is now getting hit with another storm. and as the voters headed to the polls yesterday, so did a

group of international election observe efforts sent out to look for possible voter suppression. wait until you hear what they found. ♪ 99 bushels of wheat on the farm...99 bushels of wheat! ♪

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megyn: well, folks in storm-battered communities in new york and new jersey now bracing for a nor'easter the week after superstorm sandy devastated this region. the rain behind me, the leading edge of this storm. we're talking wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour by later today and 6 inches or more of snow in some spots. there are major flight cancellations in and out of the region, new york city's closing parks, playgrounds and beaches, and new jersey's warning folks that high winds could mean new power outages in some of the hardest-hit areas. meteorologist janice dean live in the fox extreme weather center with more. >> reporter: unfortunately,

it's bad news. this is a strong nor'easter that's going to hit areas that have seen historic damage. a lot of folks here still without power, and we're going to be dealing with sub-freezing temperatures overnight tonight. let's zoom on in where we're getting a mix of rain and snow and sleet. it's going to be a very, very messy and dangerous commute home for a lot of folks along jersey up towards long island, new york city and then moving into connecticut and portions of northern new england where we're seeing the snow event. some of the storm totals, this is an aggressive computer model that we're looking at, but we could, we could see over 6, maybe 7 inches of snow across new jersey spreading up towards southern new york and in towards new england. so some impressive snow totals. snow is one of the hardest things to forecast, so we'll keep an eye on that. but, of course, the battering winds and waves and storm surge and the cold temperatures, megyn, i can't stress this enough, people have been without power for more than a week in a lot of these areas, and that is

just going to add insult to injury, unfortunately, for this battered area. megyn: it's downright dangerous now. >> reporter: it is. megyn: janice, thank you. >> reporter: okay. megyn: we'll keep you updated. and one area expected to take a big hit from this new storm is long beach. the city on new york's long island suffered some of the worst damage from superstorm sandy, so how are folks out there preparing for the latest threat? anna coyman is there now live with the latest. anna? >> reporter: megyn, it's absolutely a wreck, and we're starting to get pelted with all sorts of a wintry mix. the ocean is getting angry behind me, and there's already flood warnings in effect. this all just after hurricane sandy just completely ravaged the area. this sand was taken into the streets. we watched over the last several days as bulldozers have piled it up to act as some sort of protection. 90% of long beach is without power, and they are bracing for even more damage. >> i don't think there's any

more fears. this is it. i'm getting anxiety walking around seeing what i'm going to do. and other people, too, i feel bad for other people. this is crazy. you know? i don't know what to do anymore. i don't want to live in long beach. >> reporter: and that's the same sentiment we've seen from all sorts of folks around here. police are going to low-lying areas, asking people to reach for higher ground. there are even some mandatory evacuations but, megyn, some people are not heeding those warnings because they're scared of looters. back to you. megyn: anna, thank you. an interesting trend in last night's exit polls suggesting this storm, sandy, the one that hit last week, may have hurt governor romney's campaign. we will show you the stats, we will debate it fair and balanced. and then, one of our favorite politicos predicting a rough road ahead after this presidential election, and he said that before yesterday's

results. he said it would be the case no matter who won, predicting that our country would remain just as fractured as our famous liberty bell. today we ask if the partisan divide threatens this nation. plus, voters in two states saying it's okay to legalize pot for recreational use. not medical marijuana, we're talking recreational use. but how does that work when federal law still says marijuana is not okay? kelly's court will be interesting today. it's back. >> it means i'm going to smoke a lot of weed tonight! whoo! are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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♪ is your cholesterol at goal? talk to youdoctor about crestor. [ femalannouncer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. megyn: i like that, that little animation, developing. although i don't like the news i have to report now, and that is the dow is down 266 points today. the markets struggling, at times dropping down below more than 300 points. top of the hour we're going to take a look at what is driving the selloff, including concerns about whether congress and the president can and/or are likely to reach a deal the avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, this automatic series of tax hikes and spending cuts that is set by law to take effect in just a few weeks. ♪ megyn: well, a major story over the past week has been hurricane

sandy, and now we know it did play a role in last night's presidential election. according to our fox news exit polls, about four in ten voters said the president's response to sandy was important to their vote. look at that. and about two-thirds of those folks backed president obama. so did sandy interfere with governor romney's chances to win the white house? joining me now, monica crowley, radio talk show and kirsten powers, columnist with the daily beast. so much for the purple theme of the day. [laughter] >> we blew it today, megyn. megyn: this is interesting to me, a lot of news organizations have headlines today that say sandy wasn't a factor, sandy wasn't a factor. it wasn't the dominant factor, but it was a factor for some voters. i guess the question is, are those people who were going to vote for romney and got swayed to obama because of sandy? your thoughts, kirsten? >> i don't think so. i think in that question you don't know for sure whether or

not those people were already volting for obama and that just sort of was the thing that clinched it for them or not. but i think fundamentally people were voting on the economy, and they were voting for who they thought was going to do the best job on the economy. and when it came down to it, i think they bought the story that barack obama was telling which is things are turning around, stick with me. you don't really know who this guy is, he's this, you know, rich guy who doesn't really understand you. as you know, the exit polls showed that people overwhelmingly felt that obama did understand them. and i think that's why he won. megyn: but what's interesting to me if you dig deeper in these polls, monica, is 15% said it was the most important factor in their vote. now, that could be folks in new jersey, you know, who are at the heart of the devastation, or it could be other folks out there who saw a moment of bipartisanship where the president stepped in to help a republican governor, and they had a photo op and so on. this could have played in other ways that we didn't really get

to with the exit polling. >> the 15% number, i think, could actually be significant because on its face it does seem like a small number. but at the margins perhaps the storm did have a tiny bit of effect, to kirsten's point. but look, you know, this president really hasn't demonstrated much leadership at all, so the idea that he swoops in during a storm and actually does the job that we hired him to do, i mean, megyn, this is why you hire a president. this is the bare minimum of what a president should do in a national crisis or a natural disaster is to do what he did, and maybe it just seems so refreshing that we finally saw him doing what we hired him to do that it kind of got people maybe to take a second look. i do think that the storm threw a monkey wrench in mitt romney's momentum because it disrupted the storyline, and i -- think that bipartisan photo op with chris christie also kind of damaged mitt's narrative, that he was the only one that could work across the aisle with other

people, with democrats as he did in massachusetts when he had 87% democrats in his legislature. megyn: and then there was this comment from another host at another channel about how fortunate some folks were to see sandy hit? watch. >> i'm so glad we had that storm last week, because i think the storm was one of those things -- no, politically i should say. not in terms of hurting people. the storm brought in possibilities for good politics. megyn: okay. over 100 people dead, hundreds of thousands without power suffering, babies, elderly. i mean, i understand what he was trying to say but really insensitive. >> well, it's a long list of foolish, insensitive things he has said. i also don't even agree with his sort of political analysis. i just don't think it made that much of a difference. i really -- and i think it's dangerous for republicans to start trying to say, well, mitt

romney would have won for this or that reason when, in fact, there are some really structural problems with the republican party, and he didn't run a very good campaign. i mean, those are two things that i think republicans have to step back and look at and figure out. if they're going to try to pin it on something like sandy, they're missing the story. megyn: it reminds me of a baseball game are the one team is losing, and they're getting conservative stated, and it comes down to the last minute and somebody strikes out, and it's like, oh! well, if the whole team had played better, it wouldn't be up to that one last incident. >> yeah. i just want to pick up on what kirsten is saying. i don't think that the republican party has structural problems. did mitt romney make some mistakes? of course. so did barack obama. but i think the result we saw last night points to something much bigger, and that is that president obama and the left have had enormous success over the last four years, and it didn't start with obama, but certainly he accelerated this process of changing the very nature and character of the country where more people now

are dependent on government than not. he had tried to accelerate us to that tipping point -- megyn: we're going to talk about that. >> last night shows -- megyn: we have a panel on that coming up at 2:30, but i just want to get a quick, quick, quick response, the status of women in the republican party. your thoughts. how much work, if any, do they have to do? >> well, i mean, they've always been at a disadvantage, and they obviously have to do a lot more work, and i think they have to figure out how to shut down some of these people who say crazy things -- megyn: legitimate rape. >> what happens is it makes abortion a proxy for women's rights. it means now, you know, even someone like me who's not even -- i'm pro-life, but i am so turned off by those comments, you think i can't be part of a party where people say these kinds of things. >> kirsten is right. the republicans should not allow themselves to play on the left's battleground, and abortion, that whole conversation -- megyn: the two guys tried to say we're not with them. >> i know, and you know what? it didn't matter. no republican candidate especially this time around

should have been talking about anything other than jobs and the economy, and both mourdock and akin got trapped in a conversation about this. they got themselves in trouble, and they lost the seats, and the republicans lost the senate in large part because of it. megyn: was it akin who had been arrested eight times for protesting outside of abortion clinics, so there'd been a history -- >> and it's not because they're pro-life. megyn: selecting a politician. >> it's not because these politicians are pro-life -- megyn: no, no, of course it's not. [inaudible conversations] >> it's because they stepped in it, and they put their foot in their mouth, and then they didn't get any backup -- megyn: but the other issue is they were both tea party candidates. >> and i think that's the other thing the republican party has to deal with, is these tea party candidates who have now screwed up multiple, easy seats they should have won, christine o'donnell, claire mccaskill -- megyn: a lot of folks, they're not about social issues. i gotta run. >> okay. megyn: great debate. thank you both so much, and thanks for getting up early.

even before the votes were cast yesterday, doug schoen was predicting america would remain as fractured as our famous liberty bell. he's here next to point to the big challenges on the road ahead groo. and exit polls suggest the administration's response to the murder of four americans in libya didn't have much of an impact on yesterday's voting, but we will look at the release of a key interview by "60 minutes" at the 11th hour and the implications this issue could have made if that video had been made public sooner. and an update on the viral video of two political candidates who nearly came to blows during a town hall debate.

♪ >> the spirit that has lifted

this country from the depths of despair to the great heights of hope, the belief that while each of us will pursue our own individual dreams, we are an american family, and we rise or fall together as one nation and as one people. [cheers and applause] megyn: well, that was president obama speaking last night, saying that he will spend the next four years trying to ease the partisanship in washington. but that may be easier said than done. just days before election day democrat pollsters doug schoen wrote, quote: unlike other elections, we saw no mobilizing of a new generation, there were no shining cities on a hill or end to the washington politics that's crippling our system. this has been a campaign with no other purpose than to be elected. joining me now, doug schoen, a

fox news contributor, former adviser to president bill clinton. and you predicted that we would see the country just as polarized, if not more is so, than when this whole thing began years ago, this candidacy, this campaign, this presidency. and sure enough, here we stand with the exact same results. where are we? >> well, i'm saddened to say that pat and i were right. bottom line, despite that rhetoric from the last night -- and it was terrific -- megyn, he ran a polarizing, class-based campaign, and i saw no evidence from the republicans that they had an inclusive message to bring the country together when we're facing enormous fiscal challenges. megyn: you know, there's a lot of talk of bipartisanship and, you know, now they're going to have to work across the aisles. i don't know why people say they're going to have to because i don't know -- they don't have to do anything. [laughter] but some people believe that they're going to have to. i mean, i don't know, doug, if that is likely. because the gop, they won, you

know, a ton of house seats. >> they did. megyn: they took over the house in 2010, and they believed that their mandate was to stop obama's agenda. they believed that -- that's why they say no to everything, they believe that's what the voters told them to do. why do we think that's going to change now? i know a lot of republican voters were say, right on, we don't want to see compromise, not if it means tax hikes and things we don't believe in. >> first, nonpartisan organizations have said we could head to a recession if, in fact, there isn't compromise. we also are running into sequestration which puts, i think, about a trillion dollars or more of cuts on the table, cuts in defense that will be crippling, cuts in social programs that many of us think will be crippling. and bottom line, there is a substantial body of opinion even those who have firm ideological views that we are all americans, we have to come together to solve common problems, and we literally can't afford the

division and polarization of the last four years. megyn: how hard will it be for a president who has not had a lot of success working across the aisle to now do so? >> megyn, notwithstanding that rhetoric, i loved what i heard, but i think it's going to be hugely difficult because he ran a campaign based on taxing the wealth class against the more after fluent. there was no effort to reach out to republicans during the term. pat and i said that he would run the most polarizing campaign in history. he did. i think it's going to be well nigh impossible to do it, and you're absolutely right, the tea party house members will be very, very difficult to negotiate with for the reasons you cited and also because the president didn't make much of an effort. megyn: um, i think now we're going to see one of two barack obamas emerge. you know, because some believe he's this far left guy who wants to socialize every government program and so on -- >> yep. megyn: and others believe he's actually a moderate guy sort of

being pulled to the left by his party and was trying to be more like president clinton and in the middle. now we'll see, right? he's not facing re-election, and whatever he is, we'll know soon. >> we will. look, he has an urgent set of priorities to reach out because of the expiration of the tax cuts, the issue with sequestration and the automatic budget cuts. he has to reach out across the aisle. megyn, i will be so disappointed, other democrats -- particularly supporters of president clinton -- will be so disappointed if he doesn't reach out. bottom line, he's got to prove that he's the man of 2004 and 2008, not of his first term. megyn: we are told that after he spoke with governor romney last night that the first call president obama made was to bill clinton. to thank him for all the support that bill clinton gave him. and he was, i mean, i remember the democratic national convention, he was huge. that speech he gave was very powerful, and it was the one everybody remembered. how big is the president's debt right now to mr. and mrs. clinton? >> it is a huge debt.

secretary clinton was forthright in stepping forward and accepting responsibility for the tragedy in libya which rightly will continue to be investigated after this election is forgotten about -- or not forgotten about, put behind us. bottom line, president clinton in my judgment helped play a central if not the singular role in reelecting president obama. megyn: as a former clinton guy, do you see a hillary 2016 run? >> i believe if she wants to be the nominee, she will be the nominee. she will be the front runner for president. megyn: how old will she be? >> she'll be in her late 60s. megyn: mitt romney's 65. >> well, he was vigorous, he just didn't have the right message. megyn: that's what he said, 65 years of living a clean lifestyle will do for you. [laughter] >> thank you, megyn. megyn: too late. well, there was some controversy about some civil rights group calling on international

observers, folks from kazakhstan and elsewhere, to keep an eye on our vote here in the united states. up next, we'll show you what those observers found that surprised them.wh also, the dow is way down. why is that? ucerna hunger smart. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. campbell's has 24 new soups that will make it drop over, and over again. ♪ from jammin' jerk chicken, to creamy gouda bisque. see what's new from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

♪ megyn: i like being in our fancy new studio that we got for election night. it says "america live", but really today it's america's election headquarters, and we want to bring you this update on the election. international poll watchers are now talking about what they saw when they monitored yesterday's american elections. a u.n.-affiliated group was asked to go to various polling spots and watch for signs of people being blocked from voting, but despite all the concern, they claimed they had about voter suppression, it was really something else that blew

their minds. trace gallagher, what was it? >> reporter: you know, we're actually talking, megyn, about two different international polling organizations, both aligned, by the way, with the u.n. but they come from about 63 to 68 different countries, and you have to remember that texas and iowa and pennsylvania said stay away from our polling places or else. but many other places they were welcomed, and after watching our election process, their takeaway was: astonishment. i mean, they were amazed that most u.s. states don't require voter id. they were confused about why there's no uniform system that each state kind of does its own thing, and they were puzzled by provisional ballots. that's where you walk in, and if your name's not on the voter rolls, you still have eligibility to vote, and then they check your status later on, if ever. they also commented on the lack of police presence at polling places, and they wondered how it is we keep people from sending in numerous ballots when you have mail-in ballots, and many,

of course, have wondered the same thing. keep in mind, many of these observers come from countries where you give a thumb print to actually prove that you're a voters, you know, fingerprinted. and in gambia, megyn, they give you one marble, and you take that marble, and you put it in the jar that has your candidate's name on it, and they listen for that ding, right? because if they get more than one ding, they think maybe there's a little bit of -- megyn: funny business. >> reporter: you know, a little bit of -- megyn: hanky-panky as eric shawn's been talking about. you're telling me these groups said we don't like these voter id groups, we're worried about voter suppression, so the folks from kazahkstan come over here to monitor for voter suppression, and the thing they take issue with is why isn't there more voter id required? that's crazy! >> reporter: that's their big complaint. megyn: wow. who'd have seen that coming? trace, thank you. new questions about a major news organization's reporting on

the attack in libya that killed four americans. did it keep an important piece of the puzzle from the american people for too long? was it any accident they dent release it for -- they didn't release it until 48 hours before the election? today tuned for that. flrch

megyn: the dow was on track for its worst decline in a year one day as investors dumped stocks after president obama won reelection and investors turn their attention to the economic challenges ahead. the big board tells the story. the dow down 265 right now. at one point almost falling 400 points and the day is obviously not over yet. it's one of the most dramatic post election drops in history. matt mccall is president of penn financial group.

i don't follow the markets that closely but i have a 401k. >> i don't know if it's going to stop anytime soon. but what it means for the longer term investor. where does this leave me four years from now. people are thinking they won't be better off four years from now. so selling now and getting out is what you are seeing. there is a lot going on. but the two words resonating on wall street is fiscal cliff. people believe if romney got elected the fiscal cliff would be taken care of. but now they think it's a reality that will affect the economy greatly. megyn: wasn't there a market surge now the market is giving back the points it was up yesterday? >> reporter: yesterday i wrote a piece about the market surge that was good for romney.

everybody was thinking the momentum swung for romney and he had a chance of winning. now they give those points back plus more. i thought it would be closer to 500 points today and i think we'll get to 50 ought next couple days. there are a lot of small businesses, ceos of corporations that were on romney's side. the fact that obama is back in office, there is a lack of confidence and uncertainty. when a government decides how you are regulated, how much you pay in taxes, you don't sell all our stocks in one day. you stopped expanding, you stop hiring. there is no reason the stock market should be up today. megyn: we have had a lot of warnings from folks saying if america doesn't do something about its mounting deficit and debt they will downgrade our credit and so on. given the intransagainst we have

seen and the lack of agreement and willingness to work together, could they be reacting to that? >> obviously they are reacting to that. a lot of focus was on the election. look at europe. it got pushed aside. now, you take away the election. what comes to the forefront. the fact that the fiscal cliff is going to happen. if something doesn't get done in your government in the next 7 or 8 weeks. everybody will be focused on this from day to day. they have been kicking the can down the road and the market will keep selling off. the same thing is going to happen now. unfortunately i don't know if something happens by the even of the year. if it does not you will see a massive selloff in the u.s. stock market. megyn: not to mention massive tax hikes and defense spending cuts. perspective about the

relationship between elections and the stock market. more than half saw a decline in the stock market and the biggest post-election drop belongs to president obama. 2008 it brought a loss of 48 points. another fox news alert as we await a 2:30 conference call among the top gop leaders on the fiscal cliff. the spending cuts and tax hikes that are expected to send the country back into recession. heading that off, a huge task according to speaker of the house john boehner. steven hayes is a fox news contributor and writer for the weekly standard. they have to stop it, right? >> you would think they do, but bethat they would have to stop it six months ago. now time's up. i think there will be a new

sense of re-resolve. they understand this will lead to recession. we have had any number of economic forecasters if you don't avoid this we'll have a recession. you can't choose a recession. megyn: do the republicans agree to tax hikes? >> the most likely scenario is the one you talk about with chris stirewalt. megyn: kick the can? >> there was i think in john boehner's speech last night he said sort of doubling down on where republicans are on taxes. he said we'll not agree to raise tax rates. and that is sort of window potentially of a compromise where republicans don't agree to raise tax rates but in the context of broader tax reform they agree to new revenues. eliminating deductions and even any number of change to the tax code broadly that could end up bringing new revenues but wouldn't result in rate hikes.

megyn: you were out here on this set with us last night for our election coverage. having slept a full two hours on it. how do you feel today? >> there is -- a lot of people with talking about the repercussions for the republican party. there was a moment when we were sitting here that you think about the things that were hypothetical or theoretical. i was thinking about obama-care. the supreme courtions. the president's philosophy of handling foreign affairs is leading from behind. it's a phrase joe biden embraced during the campaign. that the way the united states will approach the world the last four years. if you are not comfortable with those things you wake up today and think we have four more years of this, and this is certainly not the direction i thought the country would choose. megyn: i was talking to laura

ingraham whether this means the republican party needs to revamp'. some are saying you need to go north middle. she does not agree with that. she thinks you have to find a full able bodied conservative who can aspouse the conservative principles in a way we didn't hear from mitt romney. >> i agree with that. part of the problem with mitt romney. he's a classy guy. he's a genuinely good person and there are too few of those in american politics. but mitt romney was trying to sell something that fundamentally doesn't come within him. he's not a visceral core conservative. he was adopting the language of conscious *. you heard it when he said severely conservative. there is no conservative that would describe himself that way. you heard it when he said the 47% and the very poor.

is opponents capitalized on. as a conservative libertarian that the kind of thing -- i became a conservative in part because i'm interested -- i believe that free markets capitalism, freedom broadly, free mind, that's the way to elevate people who are the most -- that's the system that works best. when mitt romney seems to almost denigrate that or say this is their station in life, we always have government support to help them. that's something that struck me as a conservative somebody who has been a believer in a conservative philosophy, that would never come out of their mouth. megyn: your thoughts on rising stars within the party. the next generation? >> there are a number of them. it's one of the things as conservative republicans wake up this morning to be excited about. you have scott walker in wisconsin who won his recall by doing things.

by making bold and broad reforms. his approval rating has gown in the aftermath of the recall. you have marco rubio in florida. and there is a reason everybody talks about marco rubio. not just the way that he speaks. he believes these things viscerally. when i embed myself in his campaign at the end of the 2010 elections, spent the better part of a month with him. he would give a speech. it would be a different speech but it would be an articulation of a reform, big, bold conservatism that we didn't hear in this campaign. and paul ryan came up with a blueprints for reforming the government to avoid a debt crisis because of the entitlement reform problems. and he took it from a place where it was totally unpopular to where it was the governing philosophy of the republican party. megyn: steve hayes. thanks so much. the northeast is bracing for a

new round of trouble. just hours from now a potentially devastating nor'easter brings rain, snow and the possibility of coastal flooding to areas reeling from sandy. we are live in the storm just ahead. back in september "60 minutes" taped an interview with the president about the deadly terror attack in libya. but decided to hold off by reletting a critical portion of that interview until 48 hours before the election. in the tape the president contradicts something he would later say at a presidential debate and yet they did not release it even after that debate. why not? that de8 is next. did a large number of americans who voted for president obama do so because they think they will quote get more stuff from the government? the growing debate over that provocative claim from our own bill o'reilly just ahead. >> it's a change country.

the demographics are changing. it's not a traditional america any more. 50% of the voting public who want stuff. they want things. and who is going to give them things? president obama. he knows it and he ran on it.

megyn: republican scott brown conceding the loss of his u.s. senate seat to elizabeth warren last night. they had been embroiled in a bitter race. but during mr. browns concession speech all of that seemed to be a thing of the past. listen here. >> you have got no business in politics unless you respect the judgment of people. if you run for office you have to be able to take it either way, wing or losing.

i accept the decision of the voters and i already offered my sincerest congratulations to senator elect warren so congratulations. [booing] >> no, she has received a high honor of holding the people's seat. and may she bring that senate office -- may she bring that senate office great credit just as i set out to do nearly three years ago. megyn: good for him. don't you like to see that when politicians do that? senator brown also behind he may run for office again, saying, quote, defeat is only temporary, and their thoughts that if senator kerry of massachusetts gets elevated to a position in barack obama's cabinet, scott brown may yet be the senator from massachusetts if he manages

to win that seat. we'll continue to follow that. one of the biggest controversies to hit the obama administration may have made little impact if any. the fox news exit poll found a majority of voters trust the obama administration to handle an international crisis. simon rosenberg is a former campaign adviser, and mark thiessen. guys, welcome back to the program. simon, you must be feeling happy today. and you have been saying all along you don't see -- you don't see libya as an issue -- parts of it you do. but it doesn't seem like the american people feel any

differently than you. because if you look at the exit polls specifically asked about foreign policy, we'll put libya in there. only 5% said that's the issue that's most important to them. so it may have been somewhat important to them. do you think the american people are paying attention to this issue? >> i think part of the reason those numbers came out the way they did is the country is pretty happy with barack obama as commander-in-chief. they have seen bin laden killed. al qaeda is weakened, we are getting out two of unpopular wars. when they look at the troubles we have. it was the economic stuff they focused on. i think libya matters. i think the transition happening in the middle east and north africa matter. our foreign policy is important for the country. but voters' attention were elsewhere because in part they

thought the president had it handled. megyn: what role does the media have in those numbers? i'm not just talking about libya. that incredible stuff we saw in the middle east, burning the american flag. some of it was over a video, some of it was anti-americanism. and a terrorist attack that killed our ambassador. do you think if that had been covered more we would have seen different numbers? >> it was covered initially when the whole thing was blowing up. but the coverage disappeared. the whole benghazi coverup fit hadn't been or catherine herridge and eli lake and fox news we wouldn't know half of what we know today because the mainstream media didn't cover it. other part of the issue is foreign policy tends to not be an issue until there is a 9/11 when it comes home to hit us and that hasn't happened. then on top of that, mitt romney didn't make an issue of the

benghazi attack. he blew this exchange with obama during the first debate then never brought it up again. if the candidate doesn't make an issue of something you can't expect voters to make an issue of it when they go into the polling place. you have the odd result after obama blew the whole situation with benghazi, that 57% to 43% they preferred him to handle an international crisis 3 months after he blew an international crisis. megyn: there was a question of whether romney was trying to appeal to women and going for that issue in the third debate. he did take a complete pass on libya. i want to ask you about the 0 minutes things. we touched on his a little bit. just so our viewers know. the president sat down for an interview with "60 minutes" right after the libya attack an was asked whether he believes this was a terrorist attack.

steve croft was pressing him on it. the president gave this answer. watch this tape knowing a couple weeks later he tried to tell the american people i called this an act of terror from the beginning and seemed to offer an impression he knew this was terrorism from day one. listen to what he told steve croft right after the attack. >> mr. president, this morning you went out of your way to avoid the use of the word terrorism in connection with the libya attack. >> right. >> do you believe this was a terrorist attack? >> it's too early to know exactly how this came about, what group was involved. but obviously it was an attack on americans. and we are going to be working with the libyan government to make sure we bring these folks to justice one way or the other. megyn: my question is whether you think "60 minutes" needed to release that in particular after that second debate. >> i'll leave it to "60 minutes"

to determine what part of the interviews they should release or not release. i do taped interviews at fox all the time. megyn: you are not the president. >> i understand. i want to be clear. i think all of this can be explained simply. megyn: we talked about that. and you have a great piece posted online. i recommend folks to it. but i'm zeroing in on 0 minutes * and whether there was an obligation to make that public. >> there was an obligation to make that public. this was taped on the dates of the rose garden statement where obama claimed he used the word "terrorism." steve croft said you avoided the word terrorism why did you do that and the president said it was too early to say. in the town hall debate obama was claiming he said it was terrorism and romney questioned him and candy crowley jumped in and said you are wrong.

cbs news he was wrong. megyn: good job as always, thanks so much. coming up. pot is legal ... we'll tell you where. i've been a superintendent for 30 some years at many

different park service units across the united states. the only time i've ever had a break is when i was on maternity leave. i have retired from doing this one thing that i loved. now, i'm going to be able to have the time to explore something different.

it's like another chapter.

megyn: an outbreak of voter fraud claims. what were the 11th hour issues that sprang up last night and where? plus what do it all mean for elections going forward. eric? >> reporter: we know what's expected on election day. the broken machines, scanners that don't scan and long line. what is not expected is you show up and the poll work looks aught

and says you already voted. voters say when they showed up to vote they were told they had absentee ballots voted in their names. he said the information was all correct including the driver's license number but the signature looked like a child. and there was illegal voting here in ohio. it happened in cincinnati where the hamilton board of elections tells us at one polling place, people walked in, they were allowed to seen it books and vote even though they are not registered. two election judges were removed. one was a democrat, the other a republican. there are new questions about the number of provisional ballots here. voter advocates wondering why there are so many. that's when there is a problem. you have 10 days to go back in and prove who you are. the number of provisionals,

200,000. one election official tells me they always catch people voting twice when they go through the provisionals. there is concern about the military voting. the military voting protection project says they think the military votes will be reduced in virginia by a square and ohio 50%. but the secretary of state's office says they could be lower but not by that much. there is still 10 more days for the military votes to be counted here in ohio. so that's a wrap for now. voter fraud@foxnews.com. megyn: bill o'reilly raised a few eyebrows last night when he suggested the president only won because a majority of americans want stuff and believe the president will give to it hem.

we'll debate that claim. >> it's not a traditional america anymore. there are 50% of the voting public who want stuff. they want things. and who is going to give them things? president obama. oh no, not a migraine now. try this... bayer? this isn't just a headache. trust me, this is new bayer migraine. [ male announcer ] it's the power of aspirin plus more in a triple action formula to relieve your tough migraines. new bayer migraine formula. i am the ghost of cookies past. residue. so gross. well you didn't use new pam, so it looks like you're "stuck" with me. [ female announcer ] bargain brand cooking spray leaves annoying residue. that's why there's new pam.

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reporting president obama called republican congressional leaders on both sides of the siel telling them american people made it clear they want law makers to come together and get things done. he said he wants a balanced approach to a debt deal which is then how he describes a request for tax hikes in the past. this is how they are split. he wants tax hikes and the republicans don't want tax hikes. speaker john boehner has a conference call with house republicans scheduled to start right now. he's expected to talk about the budget cuts and tax hikes that are scheduled to kick in in a few weeks. as we learn more, we'll update you. >> it's a change country. it's not a traditional america anymore. there are 50% of the voting public who want stuff. they want things. and who is going to give them

things? president obama. he knows it, and he ran on it. megyn: that was bill o'reilly suggesting president obama won this election in part because the majority of americans want stuff and believe they will get from president obama or the democratic party. the exit pollsters did not ask anyone about free stuff. but they did find 43% of the government believe the government should be doing more and those folks supported obama by a 65-point margin. 54% thinks the government needs to butt out. 47% of voters say they want a tax hike on the wealthy. 48% think everyone should pay more or taxes shouldn't change at all. let's bring in my panel. lou dobbs host of "lou dobbs tonight.

bill mcgurn, a former speech writer for george w. bush and a columnist at "wall street journals." and alan colmes author of the new book "thank the liberals for saving america and why you should." o'reilly has been talking about this on his show before last night about how he feels we are morphing into a society where too large a sector is dependent on the government and not self-sufficient enough. >> it it's been one of the fund atal tenets of the debate between liberals and conservatives for a half century. it is now reaching crisis proportions, if you will. in one of the great pairiers to governor romney's success

electorally was the presence all of that federal money. but not in the typical forms people would expect because of the military industrial complex and the defense facilities. not because simply social security to food stamps. but an absolute structural delivery for 40% of the population. in ohio, 40% of the population receiving disability, social security, medicare and medicaid against a cad who is saying, and with his vice presidential nominee, we are going to be pulling that money back from you at a time when we have lost net 9 million jobs in this country and we don't have that balance between opportunity and entitlement. megyn: there is a difference between medicare and social security on the one hand and disability, food stamps,

medicaid on the other hand. people have put money into the system and reap the rewards later. >> to might is not an issue of whether it's justified, whether it's an entitlement or short term that it's necessary. the fact is there isn't that counter offering in our society. we right now are losing jobs. even though we are talking about unemployment rate that has moved down. we still have 23 million people in this country who are in pain and governor romney spoke about those people. but he did not speak to them. and that was i think a central failure of his candidacy. >> the issue of entitlements when you call social security, medicare and disability saying that's entitlements, i find that

different than some of the other things. on the 47% you have veterans people who earned those benefits. this notion 47% want stuff, i voted for president obama, i don't want anything. what people want is jobs. he won ohio because of we did to help save the auto industry. >> i said to you that the counter offering in this society would typically be, it would be a job. and right now jobs aren't being created. in part because we are suffocating from the level of federal spend and that contest between private and public sector opportunity. >> you heard this from being from 800,000 losses of jobs every month and how many months in a row of job creation. and necessity just upgrade the numbers from august and july. people have a sense things are

turning around. megyn: but the spending has also gown. in 1980 the federal government social benefit spending was $219 billion. 2012, $1.77 trillion. spending is up 300% in the past 20 years the population only increased by 24%. >> we are losing some of the distinctions. it does not matter in terms of actuarial tables whether something is an entitlement for a tax. it does matter how people think about it that was the problem with the language about takers. i get a home mortgage deductions. i had a college loan when i went to school. i think there is a danger and it's getting large. more government and more spending always seems to be the answer. and once people get on it, it's very, very difficult to get off. i think one of the big problems

is these entitlements, the spending, is reaching not just the poor. i don't think we have a problem with benefits for the pour. but the middle class could have other options. >> somehow that barack obama wants more people on food stamps or wants give people stuff? no, he wants to create a society where people are work and contribute together economy. vote for me and i'll give you stuff within vote for me and i'll help you get your life back together. >> i think there is a point to that part. he's been spending. the spending -- what we lost is the idea that you can't have benefits or a safety net or whatever want to call it without a vibrant private sector. not only was our people not only is the spending going up. but imagine a man who is successful is demonized. megyn: give a man a fish he eats

for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for the rest of his life. there is a question about wet there is an inclination by some on the left, by the president, by the democratic party to give the man the fish. >> romney got $1.5 million from the government to save the olympics. >> most of us would oppose those, too. i would oppose those, too. i'm a conservative. i am. and i'm not particularly interested in reliving the campaign here. let's look at it honestly. intellectually it is absolutely relevant whether someone has contribute top i'm not trying to create a result politically. i'm talking about the problem and issue we are confronting as a nation. republicans, democrats, conservatives. we have an unsustainable level of spending. we'll hear in the course of the

next several months a great deal of discussion from this president and john boehner and the republican leadership, a discussion about a compromise that will involve raising tax, it will involve some incremental declines in government spending. as a baseline level. it will not be significant, it will not be real, and it will not solve the problem. until we come to terms with the fact that all of this ideological rhetoric is an impediment to what should be an important national dialogue and debate that haas not had by the presidential candidates because they were fueled and embraced by a national liberal media primarily, that was perfectly comfortable for there to be no debate on these issues and no resulting national consensus. megyn: the politicians didn't make it happen either. consensus from steve hayes and chris stirewalt is they are likely to kick that can down the

road for another several months. once again, no leadership from our politicians in washington. >> i want to compliment you. last night that moment with you walking down to see stirewalt, go down to the decision room with karl rove objecting to the call at that particular moment and articulating his reasons. your moving to a resolution of it was wonderful television. and it was wonderful, wonderful journalism. it was a spectacular moment. >> i'm going to give karl oxygen right now. megyn: that what's we do at fox news channel. we like transparency here and we don't mind showing people how the sausage is made. the decision desk, they are smart guys. karl rove is a smart guy, too. thank you also much.

the weed. as voters in two states vote to legalized pot. we are not talking about medical marijuana. we are talking about recreational pot. how can they do that? "kelly's court" is back. >> i'm going to smoke a lot of weed tonight, whoa!

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information on my phone. connection to doctors who get where i'm from. and tools to estimate what my care may cost. so i never missed a beat. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. megyn: marijuana is legal in four states. voters approved referendum legalizing pot in washington and colorado. it's still against the law at the federal level, and the federal drug enforcement agency isn't happy. joining me now, jonna spilbor, former prosecutor now defense

attorney. and arthur aidala. they will explain whether it's okay to toke up in these two states. you have got to love the governor of colorado. it is still illegal under federal law. so you tell me how they can toke up in colorado and washington state. >> you are familiar with a lot of these terms. i'll leave that alone. it should be known the governor was against this. the electorate came out 5% for it. in a state where marijuana use among children is going down and they are on this plight to be the healthiest state in the nation. let's talk about the federal prosecuting people who have one ounce of marijuana. it doesn't happen. anybody knows that the fed, the fbi, they are not doing street busts, corner bursts. this would have to go into effect by the distributors.

so what's going to happen is they will try to set up distribution program then the federal government will take whatever actions they are going to take. but here's the rub. this is already going on in california with medical marijuana. there is no provision in the federal law for medical marijuana. they are allowing california and the state government to distribute medical marijuana. holder wrote a letter saying we'll strongly oppose this and prosecute this. they have done nothing. my answer to you, your honor is let's look at past behavior to predict future behavior. megyn: how can they do it? >> how can the feds do it? megyn: how can colorado thumb its nose? >> you are italian, you know.

megyn: i think the thumb changes everything. you don't know what i'm trying to say. sorry. jonna, how can colorado pass a law like this when you have got a federal law that says pot is illegal? >> they are running a big risk. anybody walking down the street smoking a joint and a federal agent want to arrest them, they can. then that person could go to federal jail for a year when, for example, in new york, let's say you get caught. you are going to get a slap on the wrist and a $50 fine. but if the feds catch up iten bye-bye. this is not a victory for the cheech and chong aficionados. am i dating myself? >> the argument is is marijuana a gateway drug other drugs and

will it get in the hands of children. if they are allowed for some period of time to get this marijuana out there without worrying about the state police or the local governments arresting them and if there is no spike in crime or spike in younger people using marijuana, they will have a strong argument saying everybody has been doing this illegally. now it's legal. have there been more burglaries and robberies? no, we have more taxes collected. megyn: can the feds with hold fund from colorado and washington state if they don't do this? >> you bet. they to it in every other state. if you get caught with marijuana in new york you are not going to get any federal student loans. it's a dumb idea. >> there is also limited resources. we have people trying to bomb us and blow us up. we have hurricanes.

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megyn: staten island, new york is one of the most devastated coastal communities in the aftermath of sandy. now a new storm is bearing down bringing fears of more flooding and power outages. elizabeth mcdonald is live on staten island. >> reporter: the storm seems to be getting worse. the snow is coming down harder. we are a mile from the ocean in the heart of the business district of staten island. i want to take you inside this business that's been around

since the 80s. you will see a storm surge, a 6-foot high wave knocked out the front window. we'll go into the store. i'm i'll show you how high the water flooding that knocked out kenny's business and his home. how is the government's reaction? >> fema is telling me a business owner like myself, go to your local bang and get a loan. but the banks are not giving loans. so right now to fix things we are taking money out of our own pocket, using credit cards to get things done. your neighborhood -- >> this neighborhood. this is my family. this is my family also. >> reporter: and they have evacuated behind here, right? there are concerns about gas leaks. the fire department saying they

don't want a breezy point situation going on in the neighborhood. how are you feeling about the nor'easter bearing down. >> i'm starting to get concerned. i may send the young kids home early and stay here myself. >> reporter: we are doing live updates today as the storms continue to get worse. everybody is sticking through this. back to you, megyn. megyn: the last thing those folks need now is snow. we are tracking a second defense severe weather head for the hard-hit victims of hurricane sandy. snow, winds, possibly freezing rain. janice dean will be here with the latest on the storm track. david lee miller live in queens. stay tuned. we'll be right back.

>>megyn: i thank everything for watching fox news channel during the election